An experimental electronic patient record for stroke patients. Part 2: System description

This article presents an electronic patient record (EPR) for stroke patient s. At the neurology department of the Maastricht University Hospital, coord ination and communication of the multidisciplinary team for stroke patients is intended to be supported by an EPR. Existing, structured, paper nursing and medical records served as a starting point for the development of the EPR. In close cooperation with future users, the database structure, and da ta entry and data retrieval aspects of the user interface were adapted to t he domain of stroke. The result is a combined electronic medical and nursin g record that has potential to improve record keeping and to truly support daily routines. The challenges encountered in the development process were maintaining continuous user involvement and conflicting points of view rega rding the relevance of clinical data. Conclusively, we state that intensive user participation improved the EPR, coupling with the existing hospital i nformation system and other systems will be advantageous and the fact that the paper records were structured in advance will smoothen the unavoidable changes in work patterns. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.